There was a pretty strong west wind today, but it was so nice and warm I decided to go out to view and take photos of a huge old juniper tree I had found way up on a butte overlooking the Little Missouri River down in the National Grasslands in North Dakota. I thought it would be a quick hike in, snap the photos and a quick hike out. WRONG!!! The gate I usually go in was posted “NO TRESPASSING. There went the easy route into the tree. Now I would have to take a straight down the side of the butte, across several big gullies filled with a tangle of trees and brush, and then up the side of another steep butte. Funny how your mind plays tricks on you. What I remembered as a 10 minute or so hike turned out to be almost a 50 minute hike in!!! I finally found the old granddaddy of junipers and snapped a few photos. There’s a lot fewer living branches on the old boy now, but he’s still hanging in there on the side of this butte.
View from the north side of the tree.
View looking from the northwest.
Bottom trunk portion of the tree--sorry I didn't put something of a known size up against it so you could see how big it is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I took a “shortcut” and followed a straight line between the old tree and my pickup. That shortcut only took me 45 minutes to walk. I was ready to call in the rescue squad before I finally topped out on the hill where my pickup was located. I was totally pooped out!!!
It was about 4:20 in the afternoon so I decided to do some calling in these areas because I get to them maybe once every two or three years. Besides, I wanted to see how the 30 gr. Starkes at 3,900 fps would work on a coyote. My first stand produced nothing, but I did see a couple of nice muley bucks.
My second stand was going to be right above a stock dam that had lots of water in it. I hid the pickup and crept in on the shady side of the hill above the dam. I scared up a mallard drake, took a couple more steps and two hens flew off the pond. I stood very still in the shadows and checked to see if anything was running away to the north. I pale white object immediately caught my eye. I sat down very slowly, brought my rifle up so I could get the object in my scope and spotted a small coyote standing and looking my way.
I got my shooting sticks set up and began to try to kiss him in. He sat down! I started to suck on the back of my hand and was making the absolute best squeaking sounds I have ever heard. He lay down!! Talk about an insult to my pride!!! Well, it didn’t seem like he was interested and I had the dark shadows to my advantage to I slowly scooted myself back up to a little ledge, set out the legs on my Harris bipod and got them leveled off. I cranked the Burris Signature scope up to 24x, placed the crosshairs just below his chin, allowed a tiny bit for a left to right wind and squeezed off the shot. I could hear the bullet hit and heard him start to do the yipe, yipe, yipe. He got up and slowly moved a couple of feet to the west. Well I jacked in another shell and when he stopped broadside to me, I fired another bullet into him. Down he went for the final time. I stepped off the distance and it was approximately 220 yards and slightly downhill.
Here is where he was standing when I first spotted him.
This was young male born this spring. He didn’t have much of a coat on him, but as I skinned out his back legs, you could see he was getting prime—a little bit of blue in the skin, but the pale creamy skin color was starting to come on.
This picture is rather graphic, so you may want to cover the lady's and youngster's eyes on this one. My first shot hit a wee bit high and took out his lower jaw, and penetrated the skin on the neck too. I don't know why that didn't finish him.
The next picture was taken from where the coyote laid and looking back up to the shady spot on the sidehill where I laid to take the shots. If you can see the white arrow, it is pointing to where I laid for the shot.
I headed back on the road and called in two more places. I got howls in answer to my howling at both places, but nothing came in. I may have to go back to those spots when the wind is more in my favor.
I sure am one tired dude. I haven't worked that hard since last winter!!! It sure was fun though
View from the north side of the tree.
View looking from the northwest.
Bottom trunk portion of the tree--sorry I didn't put something of a known size up against it so you could see how big it is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I took a “shortcut” and followed a straight line between the old tree and my pickup. That shortcut only took me 45 minutes to walk. I was ready to call in the rescue squad before I finally topped out on the hill where my pickup was located. I was totally pooped out!!!
It was about 4:20 in the afternoon so I decided to do some calling in these areas because I get to them maybe once every two or three years. Besides, I wanted to see how the 30 gr. Starkes at 3,900 fps would work on a coyote. My first stand produced nothing, but I did see a couple of nice muley bucks.
My second stand was going to be right above a stock dam that had lots of water in it. I hid the pickup and crept in on the shady side of the hill above the dam. I scared up a mallard drake, took a couple more steps and two hens flew off the pond. I stood very still in the shadows and checked to see if anything was running away to the north. I pale white object immediately caught my eye. I sat down very slowly, brought my rifle up so I could get the object in my scope and spotted a small coyote standing and looking my way.
I got my shooting sticks set up and began to try to kiss him in. He sat down! I started to suck on the back of my hand and was making the absolute best squeaking sounds I have ever heard. He lay down!! Talk about an insult to my pride!!! Well, it didn’t seem like he was interested and I had the dark shadows to my advantage to I slowly scooted myself back up to a little ledge, set out the legs on my Harris bipod and got them leveled off. I cranked the Burris Signature scope up to 24x, placed the crosshairs just below his chin, allowed a tiny bit for a left to right wind and squeezed off the shot. I could hear the bullet hit and heard him start to do the yipe, yipe, yipe. He got up and slowly moved a couple of feet to the west. Well I jacked in another shell and when he stopped broadside to me, I fired another bullet into him. Down he went for the final time. I stepped off the distance and it was approximately 220 yards and slightly downhill.
Here is where he was standing when I first spotted him.
This was young male born this spring. He didn’t have much of a coat on him, but as I skinned out his back legs, you could see he was getting prime—a little bit of blue in the skin, but the pale creamy skin color was starting to come on.
This picture is rather graphic, so you may want to cover the lady's and youngster's eyes on this one. My first shot hit a wee bit high and took out his lower jaw, and penetrated the skin on the neck too. I don't know why that didn't finish him.
The next picture was taken from where the coyote laid and looking back up to the shady spot on the sidehill where I laid to take the shots. If you can see the white arrow, it is pointing to where I laid for the shot.
I headed back on the road and called in two more places. I got howls in answer to my howling at both places, but nothing came in. I may have to go back to those spots when the wind is more in my favor.
I sure am one tired dude. I haven't worked that hard since last winter!!! It sure was fun though